Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item :http://hdl.handle.net/2066/51936

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Subject:

UMCN 3.2: Cognitive neurosciences

Organization:

PsychiatryUMCN Extern

Journal title:

Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry

Volume:

vol. 78

Issue:

iss. 10

Page start:

p. 1092

Page end:

p. 1096

Abstract:

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate cognitive outcome in adult survivors of bacterial meningitis. METHODS: Data from three prospective multicentre studies were pooled and reanalysed, involving 155 adults surviving bacterial meningitis (79 after pneumococcal and 76 after meningococcal meningitis) and 72 healthy controls. RESULTS: Cognitive impairment was found in 32% of patients and this proportion was similar for survivors of pneumococcal and meningococcal meningitis. Survivors of pneumococcal meningitis performed worse on memory tasks (p&lt;0.001) and tended to be cognitively slower than survivors of meningococcal meningitis (p = 0.08). We found a diffuse pattern of cognitive impairment in which cognitive speed played the most important role. Cognitive performance was not related to time since meningitis; however, there was a positive association between time since meningitis and self-reported physical impairment (p&lt;0.01). The frequency of cognitive impairment and the numbers of abnormal test results for patients with and without adjunctive dexamethasone were similar. CONCLUSIONS: Adult survivors of bacterial meningitis are at risk of cognitive impairment, which consists mainly of cognitive slowness. The loss of cognitive speed is stable over time after bacterial meningitis; however, there is a significant improvement in subjective physical impairment in the years after bacterial meningitis. The use of dexamethasone was not associated with cognitive impairment.